CENTIPEDES |
- Centipedes are commonly seen in yards and occasionally enter homes.
- Centipedes damage furnishings, home or food. Their only importance is that of
annoying or frightening individuals.
- Centipedes are many-legged animals and belong to a group of animals called
Chilopods. They are usually brownish, flattened animals with many body segments.
Most of the body segments have one pair of legs. Centipedes are fast runners and
may vary in length from one to six inches. They have one pair of antennae or
"feelers" that are easily seen.
- Centipedes have poorly developed eyes and are most active at night. They are
active predators and feed mainly on insects and spiders. All centipedes have
venom glands to immobilize their prey. The jaws of the smaller local species
cannot penetrate human skin; however, the larger species may inflict painful
bites.
- Centipedes are usually associated with damp, dark places such as under
stones, leaf litter, logs, bark or soil crevices. Indoors they may be found in
closets and bathrooms where there is high humidity.
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- Centipedes usually lay 15-55 eggs clustered together in the soil although the
eggs of some species are laid singly. The eggs hatch soon after they are
deposited. The female will usually guard the eggs and the newly hatched young.
Young centipedes closely resemble the adults and require 3 years to mature.
Centipedes are rather long-lived and individuals may live up to 6 years.
- House centipede control consists of
drying up and cleaning, as much as possible, the areas that serve as habitat and
food source for centipedes. Residual insecticides can be applied to usual hiding
places such as crawl spaces, dark corners in basements, baseboard cracks and
crevices, openings in concrete slabs, under shelves, around stored boxes, and so
forth. Residual insecticides available to homeowners include aerosols or hand
pump products such as the "ant and roach killers" and "home pest control sprays"
and dusts such as boric acid. Centipedes discovered outdoors should not be
controlled.
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